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Roun

Okay, so I've only just joined but thought I would show you all this WiP of Roun, a fantasy setting that is _kind of_ an alternate Europe.

This was initially hand-drawn, then taken into Illustrator to apply a whole bunch of symbols to it. More work was then done in Photoshop for colour and texture, etc. A lot of tooing-and-froing between the apps going on.

There's still more to be done to it, but all feedback at this stage is appreciated.

Have some reputation for posting your first map over here.
I like what I see. The red labels kinda scared me at first as red tends to bleed into the terrain, but you made the color work all right. You might still want to experiment with another color though, like black...

Highlights for me are the mountains and especially the sea. Really like those. Symbols for the trees and cities look great as well. I like that you have different tree symbols. Maybe use different city symbols to let the viewer know which are the mayor cities and which are the towns and villages? It would make the map more interesting I think. I did notice you have one city using a different symbol... it's probably the capital?
Rivers seem to be in order.

Your comments are very much appreciated. That red might be a bit off - I'll have to experiment to see what else works.

Thanks for your comments on the symbols, I worked hard on those. Tried to make it clear what are evergreen and what are deciduous forests. The mountains were a lot of work. Illustrator's symbols are useful, but very difficult to arrange: I'm toying with the idea of using Javascript to arrange the z-order of symbols automatically according to Y co-ordinate. That would be very useful!

There are - currently - two 'levels' of cities: big ones, and small ones! Not strictly capitols as such, because this is Roun at a stage where the concept of 'capitol city' isn't quite there...but capitols that will arise over time are definitely in the making. Many of these cities _are_ de facto capitols, but are still small by overall standards, so they have the smaller city symbol. I've avoided actual borders for a similar reason for avoiding marking out capitols - there simply are not actual borders at this stage in Roun's history.

The next stage with this map will be to sort out a lot more of the names of bays and mountain and hill ranges and the like. And then places of interest, ruins and temples, important geographical features, and so on, that are outside of the cities.

This is a great map: crisp, clear, readable, and pretty. I'm with the Dorf regarding how great those symbols are. The map is evocative of something... maybe the old color maps that came with strategy guides for RPG or something... I love it.

I have two bits of feedback: first, there is some sort of vertical, lined pattern over the grasslands. It would seem more natural to me if it was horizontal. Also, it looks like you did a "woodcut" type pattern on the ocean, but not anywhere else. This isn't bad, per se, but it might be more natural if you were consistent between a woodcut and an illustrative look.

Do what you will with my feedback! I'm probably wrong! Great work.. you should be proud. Repped!

That is a really great piece of work! I love those mountains, and the color scheme is great (even the red lettering - unlike Gandwarf, I LIKE red text ), except for one bit, which I'll get to below.

As far as the vertical pattern - I kind of like it; it offsets the mountains and makes each (the plains and mountains) stand out more.

The only two things I'm kind of meh about are the extremely dark blue color of the coastlines - to me it conflicts too much with the text; and the 'sparseness' of the forests. They just look kind of thin. Maybe add more trees to flesh 'em out?

I like where you're going with this map - the bright, bold colors and thickly drawn mountains all work together really well. Combined with the city icons and large water pattern, it all gives it a kind of sense of whimsey - in a very good way.

I'd beef up the forests as well, but add in another tree icon or two when you do it.